1
Fieldwork Project: Interview, Transcription, Analysis, Reporting
Instruction Sheet
SOAN 111
Dr. Hildebrand
Due Dates:
Products to submit:
1. Ritual interview worksheet: due 9/19
** Submit on paper using the provided worksheet
2. Transcription: due 9/26
3. Synopsis of findings : due 10/8
4. Power point presentation : due 10/8
** All the above must be submitted to me via email
5. Audio file of interview : due 9/26
** Share with me in google drive
Rites and Rituals in our Everyday Lives Fieldwork Project: An Overview
Rituals are things that order our lives and bring into practice the myths that shape how we
understand who we are and why we are the way we are. They are part of what gives us our
identity as members of a specific group, whether that group is your family, or a religious group,
or social group, or athletic team, or many other groups. Some rituals, but not all, are rites of
passage. They help move a person from one status in society into another status in society. Your
book talks about rituals starting on page 555.
Think of a ritual that you would like to interview someone that you know about. Choose a person
who is easy to access because you will be conducting this interview soon.
You will conduct an interview with someone that you already know about a ritual that they
practice or participate in. You will also record this interview, transcribe the interview, conduct an
analysis, then present your findings to class on the appointed date.
Examples of rituals: wedding, baby shower, bachelor/ette party, bridal shower, graduation, court
of law, birthday party, religious service (weekly, yearly, etc), funeral, handshaking, Bar and Bat
Mitzvah, Debutante ball, Sweet Sixteen, Quinceanera, First Communion, Rumspringa,
circumcision, military boot camp, white coat ceremony, etc.
REMINDER:
There are four parts of a ritual:
1. Repetitive social practice
• The same things “have to happen” – set of symbolic activities, dance, song,
speech, gestures, manipulation of certain objects
2. Set off from the social routines of everyday life
• This kind of thing does not happen in everyday life
3. Adhere to a characteristic, culturally defined ritual schema
• Members of a culture can tell that this is a ritual even if they’ve never been to this
particular ritual before. A person has to have knowledge of a culture to understand
what is happening.
• There are symbols involved.
4. Closely connected to a specific set of ideas that are often (but not always) encoded in
myth
• The ideas in the ritual are expressing some ideas that are culturally important and
probably are expressed in myth (the stories that we tell ourselves about who we
are): nature of good and evil, relationship of humans to the spirit world, how
people should interact with each other, and so forth.
Two basic questions to ask about the rituals:
1. What are the reasons that people give for conducting the rituals?
2. Is this a scheduled ritual (calendrical) or is this a ritual that happens when a social structure
must change (crisis)?
Instructions:
1. Decide what type of ritual you would like to learn about.
2. Think of a couple ideas for informants (people who you can ask to interview).
3. Think about how you will carry out your interview: create an interview guide (see instructions
below).
4. Locate and test your equipment to record the interview (smart phone, digital audio recorder)
5. Conduct interview (about 20 minutes, instructions to follow)
6. Transcribe three important portions of the interview (instructions to follow)
7. Analyze your data (instructions to follow)
8. Come up with at least three findings that you want to teach the class. Write the project
synopsis based on these findings (see instructions).
9. Describe those findings in the synopsis in one paragraph (instructions to follow)
9. Use the provided powerpoint presentation template document to report on your project.
(instructions to follow)
10. Submit the transcription, synopsis, powerpoint presentation by email and audio file by
shared google drive to Dr. Hildebrand on the due date.
Narrative interview approach
There is a lecture on narrative interviewing on blackboard. It is also expected that you will
consult with the chapter on methods.
1. Ask these questions:
• How is this ritual celebrated?
o What are the things that must happen in the ritual?
o What are the things that might happen?
• When is this ritual performed? How often?
• Who is invited to participate in the ritual?
o Does a person have to be a member in some way to participate?
o Are there people who are not allowed to participate in the ritual?
• How did you learn about this ritual?
• Is there a story that goes along with this ritual? Or something that is told?
• What kind of symbols are used in the ritual? (You might have to explain to the
interviewee what this is.)
• How would it feel if X happened and this ritual was not performed?
2. Ask other questions that you think are important.
3. Follow the informant. Use prompting questions. Listen carefully. Talk as little as possible—
the informant should do the talking.
How to Submit your work:
There are four things that you need to submit to me. READ THIS CAREFULLY. Part of the
grading criteria is: did you follow these instructions? Due dates are listed above.
Please use your OWU email address.
1. Synopsis of findings
a. There is a separate instruction sheet (a template) that tells you specifically how to
do this on Blackboard.
b. Send as a .docx file
c. The title of this docx file should be: YOURLASTNAME Ritual Synopsis
2. Transcription
a. Follow the instructions given in class about how to do this.
b. Send as a .docx file
c. The title of this file should be: YOURLASTNAME Ritual Transcription
3. Power Point Slides
a. Follow the instructions in the template document
b. Send as a .ppt file
c. The title of this file should be: YOURLASTNAME Ritual Slides
4. Audio file
a. This is the ONLY file that you should share with me as a google file.
b. The title of this file should be: YOURLASTNAME Ritual Audio
Grading Criteria for Fieldwork Project #1:
Slide deck All three findings are adequately articulated, 15
presentation defined, and described
Research methods are described 5
Informant is described sufficiently to give readers 5
a sense of your individual and why the person is
an expert
Ritual is defined clearly on a slide 5
Ritual described conforms to the anthropological 5
definition of a ritual (eg: a wedding), not a popular
definition of a ritual (eg: the morning ritual)
Clear statement of lessons learned (what you 5
would do differently next time)
Synopsis of All goals of the assignment are fulfilled 20
findings
document
Transcription Transcription includes the entirety of the interview 10
and has shared the audio file (unless discussed
with professor).
Transcription follows the protocols and format 5
discussed in class
General Project was submitted on time 5
Project followed all instructions, even the details 5
like the naming of files.
The quality of the writing: grammar, lack of typos 15
or style problems, etc
Total 100
points
